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Ted Lasso (Apple Tv+, Jason Sudekis)

Started by Small Man Big Horse, August 14, 2020, 09:20:28 PM

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phantom_power

Quote from: kidsick5000 on September 26, 2020, 06:05:15 PM


I'm still perplexed by Apple's apparent lack of need to promote their shows, but oh well.


There is an advert for it on every All4 show I watch at the moment

kidsick5000

Quote from: phantom_power on September 26, 2020, 07:09:40 PM
There is an advert for it on every All4 show I watch at the moment

Ah cool. That's reassuring . I'm not in the UK so it's very much word of mouth or, if the Apple TV+ Thumbnail intrigues you enough

checkoutgirl

I maintain a soft spot for Sudeikis so I'm giving this a go. The intro tune is almost unbearably unremarkable. Cod style Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene type stuff. Complete air. The story is your typical fish out of water proves how great he is and wins everyone over deal. A well worn path but not insurmountable. Laughs are thin on the ground and pretty scarce in the air for that matter, but again, not a huge issue if you adjust your expectations and look for other types of rewards.

The cast is nothing special except for old J-Slice who is the only thing worth watching. James Lance's hairpiece unit is indeed something to behold, like Barry Gibb or even Alvin Stardust. Possibly Gary Glitter. Sufficed to say it's a ludicrous boufant and quite distracting.

Just starting episode 4 now and even though I've downloaded 8 episodes, after a slightly promising start to the series I'm beginning to doubt whether I'll make it much further. I noticed early on they managed to squeeze in some tight dancing by Sudeikis, the What's Up With That sketch from Saturday Night Live showcased what a nifty little mover he is.

It's nice and gentle if that's your thing. Even the dramatic moments aren't particularly gripping. The new coach seems more interested in baking than managing. Merchant Navy from Derek is the team captain and does okay I suppose. Sudeikis has some family baggage he left behind in America so I assume that will become more prominent soon enough.

I'll give it a few more episodes and most likely bin it. The yank coming over to do a show in England reminds me of David Cross's Todd Margaret and I assume SMBH didn't manage to bag a role as a pub extra in this. Sorry, I meant supporting artiste.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: checkoutgirl on September 27, 2020, 02:12:01 PM
I maintain a soft spot for Sudeikis so I'm giving this a go. The intro tune is almost unbearably unremarkable. Cod style Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene type stuff. Complete air. The story is your typical fish out of water proves how great he is and wins everyone over deal. A well worn path but not insurmountable. Laughs are thin on the ground and pretty scarce in the air for that matter, but again, not a huge issue if you adjust your expectations and look for other types of rewards.

The cast is nothing special except for old J-Slice who is the only thing worth watching. James Lance's hairpiece unit is indeed something to behold, like Barry Gibb or even Alvin Stardust. Possibly Gary Glitter. Sufficed to say it's a ludicrous boufant and quite distracting.

Just starting episode 4 now and even though I've downloaded 8 episodes, after a slightly promising start to the series I'm beginning to doubt whether I'll make it much further. I noticed early on they managed to squeeze in some tight dancing by Sudeikis, the What's Up With That sketch from Saturday Night Live showcased what a nifty little mover he is.

It's nice and gentle if that's your thing. Even the dramatic moments aren't particularly gripping. The new coach seems more interested in baking than managing. Merchant Navy from Derek is the team captain and does okay I suppose. Sudeikis has some family baggage he left behind in America so I assume that will become more prominent soon enough.

The bit in bold is why I think I like it so much right now, I mean I find it funnier than you do and full of charm, but how kind hearted and gentle it is especially appeals to me. I quite possibly would feel different if we weren't in the middle of a pandemic, and hey, who knows, by the time the second (or third) season comes around I might even find out if that is the case.

QuoteI'll give it a few more episodes and most likely bin it. The yank coming over to do a show in England reminds me of David Cross's Todd Margaret and I assume SMBH didn't manage to bag a role as a pub extra in this. Sorry, I meant supporting artiste.

I know it's a convincing wig but I can't believe you didn't spot me as the pub landlord.

Small Man Big Horse

Have to admit
Spoiler alert
that they caught me off guard with the ending, but I'm impressed that they did. Will be interesting if Ted's two year plan is how the next two seasons play out as well, or if there'll be further curveballs down the line.
[close]
Either way I'll miss this, and hope it doesn't take too long to return.

BeardFaceMan

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on October 03, 2020, 04:29:40 PM
Have to admit
Spoiler alert
that they caught me off guard with the ending, but I'm impressed that they did. Will be interesting if Ted's two year plan is how the next two seasons play out as well, or if there'll be further curveballs down the line.
[close]
Either way I'll miss this, and hope it doesn't take too long to return.

Spoiler alert
Yeah that all played out nicely, was a very satisfying end to the series. They have a 3 series plan for the show so I assume that's what will happen, series 2 will be the fight for promotion and the 3rd series back in the Premier League
[close]
.

Read an interview with the bloke who plays Roy Kent and it seems the 2nd series is a long way off. It's going to be difficult when the lead lives in another country, not to mention all the ensemble and crowd scenes they have with the football.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on October 03, 2020, 04:42:49 PM
Spoiler alert
Yeah that all played out nicely, was a very satisfying end to the series. They have a 3 series plan for the show so I assume that's what will happen, series 2 will be the fight for promotion and the 3rd series back in the Premier League
[close]
.

Read an interview with the bloke who plays Roy Kent and it seems the 2nd series is a long way off. It's going to be difficult when the lead lives in another country, not to mention all the ensemble and crowd scenes they have with the football.

Yeah, I guess with such a large cast and the way they physically interact with each other it's probably unlikely to happen for a good while which is an awful shame. I mean I suppose they could all go in to quarantine together akin to the way a fair few other series have, and the crowd scenes could be cgi, but it's probably more likely they'll try and wait it out.

kidsick5000

Had a listen to Brett Goldstein's podcast– was quite surprised at how soft spoken he is. It's almost as though he's acting.

Great place to leave the series. Hope it comes back soon. Actually, i just hope it comes back.

Moribunderast

I just watched this series over the past three days. Absolutely adored it. Jason Sudeikis is someone I've never disliked but always found a bit plain. He was fantastic in this and the character of Ted Lasso is just joyous. The whole show is, really. So upbeat throughout whilst also having tinges of melancholy that actually managed to get me at times. The whole thing just felt very sweet and pleasant to watch. Very funny too, obviously. In a short amount of time they made me really care about the core cast of characters, be glad at their various redemption stories/positive changes and root for them.

I feel like I should reiterate that it WAS very funny but for me the best aspects were how warm and sweet it was to watch and how much I ended up liking everyone (bar Anthony Head's character, of course). What a fucking great show. One of my favourite comedy series' of the year, easily.

phantom_power

I wasn't that fussed about Sudeikis from the few clips I saw of him on SNL and some of the stuff he did  after but then a combination of his performance in Colossal, his appearances on Last Man on Earth and his amazing dancing in the What Up With That sketches have made me a firm fan. This show has only consolidated that belief

timebug

Agree with the general mood on this thread. I am by no means a football fan, but found this a nice gentle 'feelgood' series.
And I also only know Nick Mohammed from his 'Mr Swallow' character,and was impressed at his low key but good performance in this. Can't wait for it to return. And as I watched it on a streaming platform, ads were never a problem for me!

BeardFaceMan

This has been renewed for a third season and they're looking to start filming the second season in January, so it looks like we're going to get to see this through to the end. Lovely stuff.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on October 29, 2020, 08:02:10 AM
This has been renewed for a third season and they're looking to start filming the second season in January, so it looks like we're going to get to see this through to the end. Lovely stuff.

I heard that too, apparently it's Apple Tv's most watched show by some margin, and so even if the pandemic causes shooting to be delayed it'll still get made.

Dex Sawash


Just got told to watch this and saw the 1st one. 30 seconds in "It's just The Producers, isn't it?"

I hope they got all the shit jokes about tea and RHD steering out of the way.

gotmilk

The hype surrounding this show is nauseating. Endless articles and tweets about how inspirational and uplifting this show is, how it'll change you as a person and give you hope in these cynical times. There's more than a whiff of #KindnessIsMagic and #BeLikeDerek to the whole thing, and that's without accounting for Merchant Navy's involvement.

The show itself is better than I'd feared. Jason Sudeikis is quite a likeable presence, and the show has that pacing which streaming services have perfected to make episodes easily bingeable. But it is still an incredibly formulaic and irritating show. I don't mind cartoonish characters as a vehicle for comedy, but not as a vehicle for constant "heartwarming" moments. I knew we were in trouble when Ted asks Nathan's name and he stammers "Me...but nobody ever asks my name!". Look, I can fully believe that someone of his status is under-appreciated and that Ted's attention comes as a surprise, but that precise exchange is so obvious and lazy that it's almost exactly like a scene from Patch Adams. Every character developed in just the way you would expect with zero subtlety, with only Anthony Head's character coming across as a real human being (rather than say, a gruff team captain with a secret heat of gold).

The twee Marcus Mumford score doesn't help, particularly when it accentuates scenes which are sentimental enough as they stand - Nathan's promotion in the finale being a particularly egregious offender. Everything is so slick, and smug, and American. The bit where they broke the treatment room curse felt like it belonged in a bad children's show. Why the universal praise for something which Paddington 2 or the Dougie arc in Twin Peaks does far better?

Looking forward to series 2.

I'm baffled so far. Three episodes in and it's barely raised a smile - never mind a laugh - and it feels like absolutely nothing has happened yet. There's so much flab and everything's signposted at least twice before it actually happens.

They've spent an hour and a half setting up the characters, and the player's model girlfriend is the only one who seems interesting.

Despite it not really working as either a comedy or a feel-good drama, I'm intrigued enough to stick with it to see if it deserves the praise it seems to be getting absolutely everywhere.

veletision

I enjoy a good hearted sitcom without edge from time to time but the football stuff is so bad that i had to turn it off.

Two more episodes. I really do think this is a monologue about the power of positivity away from being on a par with Gervais's recent projects. I'm bewildered by the award wins and near-universal praise.

I can't bring myself to hate it (and I don't want to hate it, because my wife's enjoying it just enough to make us watch the rest), but it's just all over the place, free of gags and there are some pretty rotten performances too.

If you're after a joyous, light sitcom then you'll be far better off rewatching Detectorists.

Obel

Perhaps you're just a miserable person or something.

BeardFaceMan

I think people are misinterpreting the positivity thing. The reason Lasso is like that is because he's a kids coach, that's why he's so positive, trying to build up kids. And he gets transferred to a professional club and treats all the adults there the way he treated the children because it's the only style of coaching he knows. I'd say it's a world away from the Derke 'be kind' style.

Well I ended up enjoying it after that appalling curse of the treatment room episode. Three mini Texaco promotional footballs out of five.

It really does pick up when Jamie Tartt leaves the club. He's a poor character who the writers somehow let dominate the show. Once he's gone the whole thing becomes much more fun. 
Spoiler alert
I was hoping he'd be written out and never be heard from again - like Mark in Parks and Rec - but I can see he's in series two.
[close]

And this isn't a criticism of Ted Lasso as it's clearly intended to be comic book stuff, but has there ever been a comedy or even drama that accurately represents what football and football supporters are actually like?

SteveDave

Quote from: Wayman C. McCreery on July 27, 2021, 11:20:53 PM
And this isn't a criticism of Ted Lasso as it's clearly intended to be comic book stuff, but has there ever been a comedy or even drama that accurately represents what football and football supporters are actually like?

Big ol' racists?

Ant Farm Keyboard

Quote from: Wayman C. McCreery on July 27, 2021, 11:20:53 PM
And this isn't a criticism of Ted Lasso as it's clearly intended to be comic book stuff, but has there ever been a comedy or even drama that accurately represents what football and football supporters are actually like?

I can mention two French films

Coup de tête/Hothead, about a loudmouth factory worker and amateur football player (Patrick Dewaere, Going Places) who's framed for rape, goes to jail, then gets released as the team is missing a few players after a bus accident, and the town does a 180 on him when he makes it win on a major cup match. It's directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (The Quest for Fire) and written by Francis Veber (Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire, L'Emmerdeur, La Chèvre), which shouldn't work, but actually does.

À mort l'arbitre, by Jean-Pierre Mocky, starking Eddy Mitchell and Michel Serrault. It's about racist and violent supporters tracking down the referee after their team lost a match due to a penalty to lynch him. Serrault is very spooky in this one.

Thought I'd give this a go, and was quite enjoying the first episode until there's a really awkward moment when Ted says something like "we'll do our best, win or lose" and one of the English reporters says "or tie". Fucks sake. No British (or Irish) person would EVER say "tie" in a sporting context. As with Matthew Holness saying "do the math" in The Haunting of Bly Manor, I found it so incongrous that it lifted me right out of the programme . It's irritating that none of the the English crew - or indeed, the fucking English actor - would have pointed out just how jarring this would sound.

Will keep watching it, as it's pleasant enough, but this boiled my piss to the extent that I had to come here immediately to whinge about it.

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on July 29, 2021, 12:40:41 AM
I can mention two French films

Coup de tête/Hothead, about a loudmouth factory worker and amateur football player (Patrick Dewaere, Going Places) who's framed for rape, goes to jail, then gets released as the team is missing a few players after a bus accident, and the town does a 180 on him when he makes it win on a major cup match. It's directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud (The Quest for Fire) and written by Francis Veber (Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire, L'Emmerdeur, La Chèvre), which shouldn't work, but actually does.

À mort l'arbitre, by Jean-Pierre Mocky, starking Eddy Mitchell and Michel Serrault. It's about racist and violent supporters tracking down the referee after their team lost a match due to a penalty to lynch him. Serrault is very spooky in this one.

Thanks for those - I haven't heard of either of them so I'll check them out.

I don't think I've ever seen a fictionalised football match where a group of fans in replica kits aren't walking to stadium with scarves aloft while singing the same song. I've been to at least a thousand games, and the reality is mostly miserable men trying to make the walk from the pub to the ground as quick as possible so they can get a pie and another pint.

Again, it's no criticism of Ted Lasso which requires a massive suspension of disbelief. But football on film is so different to the reality that I'm not sure anyone who's ever made a film about it has actually studied the culture. Fever Pitch and When Saturday Comes come closer to capturing it than anything else I've seen, but they're still miles off.

Quote from: Small Potatoes on July 30, 2021, 03:08:20 PM
Thought I'd give this a go, and was quite enjoying the first episode until there's a really awkward moment when Ted says something like "we'll do our best, win or lose" and one of the English reporters says "or tie". Fucks sake. No British (or Irish) person would EVER say "tie" in a sporting context.

It gets much, much worse for that. But it's presumably primarily made for an American audience, so I get why they do it. Out of all the things I can criticise the show for, that's something I'm happy to let slide.